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Government Control In 1984 By George Orwell

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Complete government control and government spying is a fear that has been among people ever since technology has begun to advance. Totalitarian governments started to take shape in the 1930’s when there were obvious parallels between Hitler and Stalin (Gleason 150). In the 1940 's, George Orwell was one of those people in fear of rising totalitarian police states. Orwell wrote 1984 with the purpose of hoping to warn people of the dangers of the totalitarian form of government. Orwell tells the story through the life of Winston Smith and the daily oppression he goes through living in this form of government. Gorman Beauchamp describes the tone of 1984 perfectly. He says, “In 1984 Orwell provides, of course, the apotheosis of bully worship, a …show more content…

Sex is unquestionably the key political issue in 1984 (Baruch 345).” The totalitarian government is all about complete control and total power over their people. Orwell shows the daily struggle of Winston and his sexual thoughts that he has to try to refrain from. Whenever he sees that attractive dark haired girl, he cannot contain himself and almost bursts with pleasure. The sexual oppression has built up inside him over the years and he is willing to go to great lengths to get it out. It slowly destroys Winston’s mind and starts to drive him mad and this is exactly what Orwell wants the audience to understand. That a totalitarian government will completely oppress their people in a way that is not healthy for their mental state. Like Baruch said, wearing makeup and having sex is unquestionably an act of defiance and freedom in the totalitarian society. This should not even be an issue though because wearing makeup and having sex with whom you choose are basic rights that everyone should …show more content…

The people cannot resist forever and will eventually give in and accept the oppression that they live with. Winston Smith spends the entire novel trying to fight this totalitarian government. He does everything in his power to resist the government and to try to escape to freedom, but in the end the Party wins and Winston accept his role as another mindless person in their society. Journalist Philip Goldstein says, “Winston eventually accepts newspeak, repudiates sexual, gendered love and worships Big Brother and the Party not only because in totalitarianism fashion O’Brien intimidates and tortures Winston but also because, in the paperweight, the photo, Goldstein 's book, the prols, popular culture, and even Julia, Winston can find no opposition better than the metaphysical” (Goldstein 131). Goldstein is arguing that Winston eventually succumbs to this power because he has nothing else to turn to anymore. Everything in Winston’s he has been restricted from or it has been taken away from him so he has no choice but to give in to the

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In George Orwell’s novel 1984, protagonist Winston Smith struggles to maintain his individuality, beliefs, and values while being under the totalitarian government control. As a citizen, Winston secretly rebels against the ruling Party. Although he attempts to challenge the power of the Party, Winston encounters many characters that drive him to his demise, such as Charrington, O’Brien, and Julia. In addition, his own decisions lead him to a labyrinth of problems. Eventually, the Party accomplishes its goal: to brainwash Winston and all other citizens.

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The novel 1984 by George Orwell, focuses on the physical and mental torture of Winston Smith as he goes through the Party’s corrupt ways of mind control. Throughout the chapters of Part Three, Orwell showcases the aftermath of Winston and Julia’s affair in the hotel. This included Winston being tortured into accepting the Party and loving Big Brother: “Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past,” (204) While Winston is still being tortured, O’Brien is making him repeat these words so that he will soon accept the Party. However, Winston is very stubborn and doesn’t want to believe this. Winston still has the mindset of rebelling before he was caught by the Thought Police.

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Aside from his relationship with Julia as a “political act” (129), Winston’s ultimate ruin can be traced to his intuition that has consistently led him astray, “It seemed to him that he know instinctively who would survive and who would perish, though just what it was that made for survival, it was not easy to say.” (63) This is a crucial example of how visibly disconnected Winston is, especially once the reader achieves the end of the novel, and each of the characters he had prophesied as a survivor of the oppressive regime is persecuted by Big Brother. While it can be argued that rebellion against political authority is another way to conform to a different authority, the same proponent may also remind us that government powers are capable

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He is rebellious and thinks that he is care-free of the consequences brought by the crimes. Many of the people in this society are brainwashed into believing everything they are told, Winston is an outcast for not doing so. In George Orwell’s novel 1984 the main character, Winston Smith, is portrayed as insane according to the totalitarian government.

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Because Winston’s thoughts and actions defied the government, he is punished physically as it is crucial that he is reeducated in order to comprehend the Party’s ways. This prolonged threat of torture eventually influences Winston to confess and obey to the Party’s requests as he feels that nothing is worse than the amount of physical torture he has undergone; “how many times he had been beaten, how long the beatings had continued, he could not remember.” Winston is only capable of handling so much before he has no choice but to break away from his own personal thoughts and believe what he is expected to believe. This method of torture is extremely effective because by physically hurting guilty victims they become vulnerable and are more likely to feed into the government’s ways. The fear of the physical violence is powerful enough to push Winston to conform; “There were times when his nerve so forsook him that he began shouting for mercy even before the beating began, when the mere sight of a fist drawn back for a blow was enough to make him pour forth a confession of real and imaginary crimes.”

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Most concepts in this novel are terrifying even in thought, as freedom was extinct, as were meaningful lives. The brash elimination of all natural emotion and the limiting of individualism is something that broke these civilians down, unable to cope with existential crises, if they even experienced any. The aspect of keeping information from the citizens like the past, and the language, restricted the people's consciousness and idleness to formulate their own thoughts, which further helped the Party stay in power. Winston Smith refused to conform to these rules, but the Party eventually broke his spirit and made him submit. The Party, absurdly, had no reason for operating this way, other than doing it for power, ultimate power of the minds of millions.

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He was brutally tortured in the guts of the Ministry of Love, akin to modern day North Korea, Winston was lobotomised. The physical altercations and stigma were even proclaimed as such, “the pain was so great… no one could ask for more, he wanted it to stop.”. Whether or not the subsequent love for Big Brother was authentic, it became second nature. Winston is collective in his resolve for the party, even if one wants to indulge in pleasure and protests, morality and consequence are ingrained into one's mind.

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George Orwell's characterization of Winston's collapse is exemplified further through the dangers of a totalitarian society. This novel acts as a social commentary on this society's mistreatment of others. Winston's failure is the only way that readers could obtain the warning of the perils involved in a totalitarian society, one where heroism is

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1984” is a book written by George Orwell about a dystopian city that takes place in the distant future from Orwell's time. The book conveys a society where a government head called “BIG BROTHER” has assumed control over the whole country, taking care of things such as people, wars, food and many other affairs. The story follows the main character Winston , who was a worker in the ministry of truth, during the story it shows the struggles he faces with taboo relations and actions within an oppressed society as well as government threat always looming over him as he fights to be free of the control society and government had always forced upon its citizens. George Orwell conveys the struggles of poverty , government and privacy in a realistic

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Orwell wrote 1984 specifically wanting Winston initially to be a normal citizen of the Party. This characterization of Winston gives the reader an accurate gauge of what most citizens lives are like within the setting of 1984, and also creates a foundation for Winston’s personality before it rapidly begins to

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As a result of the constant indoctrination, Winston succumbs to the Party’s way of thinking and “loves Big Brother” (Orwell, 300). When the Party destroys him, everything that he took pride in including freedom of expression, love and individuality is destroyed along with him representing that he had “won victory over himself” (Orwell, 300). Although he gives up all of the things which provide him happiness, this sacrifice has been made for selfish reasons as it is made to allow him to live ‘freely’ within

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George Orwell’s 1984 is a precautionary tale of what happens when the government has too much control in our lives. The protagonist, Winston Smith, is at odds in a world in which he is not allowed to counter the government’s surveillance and control. Perhaps more striking is the noticeable relationship between the novel and modern society. In George Orwell’s novel 1984 the book predicts the surveillance of Big Brother in modern day societies.

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One of the themes of 1984 by George Orwell is how it represents living in a dictatorship. There are many troubles that come with living in a dictatorship. In the book, everyone is ruled by a dictator called Big Brother. No one knows if he is real or not, but he makes all of the rules. An example from the book about dictatorship is, “Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your skull.

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Living through the first half of the twentieth century, George Orwell watched the rise of totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Soviet Union. Fighting in Spain, he witnessed the brutalities of the fascists and Stalinists first hand. His experiences awakened him to the evils of a totalitarian government. In his novel 1984, Orwell paints a dark and pessimistic vision of the future where society is completely controlled by a totalitarian government. He uses symbolism and the character’s developments to show the nature of total power in a government and the extremes it will go through to retain that power by repressing individual freedom and the truth.

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